On the Mendocino Coast, a new Little Free Library was installed at The Ledford House in Albion as part of the Flockworks “Little Free Libraries for All” project and in partnership with the owners, Lisa and Tony Geer.

Little Free Libraries are community book sharing sites that inspire a love of reading, spark creativity and build community through a “take a book, return a book” free book exchange.

The library was assembled by community artist Joanna Wigginton and finished by Flockworks’ board member Erica Harrold. The inspiration for the artwork on the structure came from learning about the life of Lisa Greer’s 12-year-old grand-niece, Coco, who was killed in a car accident. Coco’s love of books and altruistic nature were an inspiration to everyone she met.

“I was touched by the beauty of that young soul and how much she gave in her short time,” said Harrold. “She volunteered with homeless programs, animal shelters and did environmental restoration work in her community. I wanted to honor her spirit in some way.”

You can learn more about Coco through the family foundation, livelikecoco.org.

“A Little Free Library connects people,” said Joanna. “Whether they know the connection exists or not, people are sharing a book when they take one and when they leave one. This was the perfect project for Flockworks because we’re all about creating connection through creativity.”

Joanna conceived of this project as a way to develop carpentry skills for youth and promote literacy. The project is planning to work with local schools to facilitate the construction of hundreds of LFL structures.

For more information, go to flockworks.org/little-free-library-project.html.